Grit Lab Report

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to your personalized Grit Lab Report!

We will go week by week, reviewing everything you have told us through Poll Everywhere.

We hope this will help you reflect on what you have learned and experienced during Grit Lab.

Important note!

Sometimes, you may not have been able to respond to all polls.

If the data for one of the polls is missing, the automatic report will display NA, or ““.

Okay, let’s get started!

The first half of Grit Lab delves deep intp the passion facet of Grit.

We like to call it Choose Easy, because we think gritty people pursue what they enjoy.

Putting it graphically, gritty people tend to pursue the intersection of these four circles.

The first time we met, you told us where you were on the grit rubric.

Regarding passion you picked Stage 2: I have 2 or 3 emerging interests but am unsure how to figure out which one to pursue .

Regarding perseverance you picked .

As you know, grit grows, so don’t worry if you are not yet where you’d like to be in your grit journey.

Hopefully, this class will help you become grittier each day.

In week 2, we looked at your interests.

Interest is an emotion, and it is the opposite of boredom.

Your interests are the activities or subjects that spontaneously grab your attention.

Trying things out and seeing how you feel is the best way to refine your interests.

In week 3, we studied values, your beliefs about what is important.

You said your top three values were benevolence, universalism, and self-direction.

You wrote a “This I Believe” essay, and here’s where you located it on Schwartz’s value taxonomy.

When we talked about strengths in week 4, you said your personality strength was agreeableness.

You said your top three talents were social, verbal, and analytic.

We then talked about goal hierarchies.

You said you had a pretty good idea about your top-level goal.

We discussed self-concordance, or how much a goal aligns to your deeply held values and beliefs.

A goal you said you will be pursuing for the next six months is to get a job .

Here is how self-concordant that goal was:

Don’t worry if your self-concordance for that particular goal is low.

It might mean that you need to reframe that goal in a way that makes it more relevant to your deep self, or change it!

Remember that self-concordance is goal specific, so other goals might be more self-concordant.

We then transitioned to the second part of Grit Lab:

Work Smart

In week 6, we looked at goal setting and planning.

You WOOPed!

For your Wish, what you wanted to accomplish, you said Apply to more jobs .

For your Outcome, what would happen if your wish came true, you said I have a job .

For you Obstacle, what it is within you that stands in your way, you said I hate applying for jobs .

For your Plan, you created this when-then plan to achieve your goal: When I finish my homework assignments, then I will apply for 2 jobs .

Whether you changed your WOOP or stuck to that one, here’s where it landed between being a total fail, and going exactly according to plan.

And here’s how much you learned

These goals are hard, and despite our best efforts, our plans can fail.

The important thing is that you learn something along the way!

In week 7, we talked about deliberate practice.

You shared you’ve done daily practice in sports .

We learned that deliberate practice requires a challenging, hyperspecific goal, maximum concentration, instant feedback, and is often done alone.

In week 8, we discussed feedback.

Even though feedback can be hard to take, it is often the key to improve. So if you want to improve, seek it actively!

You said you felt Hurt when receiving critical feedback, and Hurt when receiving positive feedback.

We then turned to learning about stress.

In week 9, you reported feeling a lot of stress in your life right now, the primary source of it being job hunting .

We also talked about adversity and failure.

Although related, adversity and failure are different:

Adversity happens to us, whereas failure is something for which we are generally more responsible.

However, how we interpret stress and failure matters…

Interestingly, research has found that people who believe that stress can facilitate learning and growth experience enhanced performance, well-being, and health.

And failure—not achieving a particular goal—can be interpreted as “I’m learning!” and lead you to look for the lesson in that experience.

We closed the Work Smart section of the class by talking about habits.

Throughout the semester, you practice habit building using your Build-A-Habit Guide book.

You describe the habit you chose as Health .

Whether you were successful in habit building or not, this is how much you learned.

Finally, what good is grit if we do not dream for others?

So, we transitioned to Paying it Forward.

In week 10, we looked at mentors: role models that take an active role in your growth.

Hopefully, your mentor was authoritative, being both supportive and demanding.

Here’s how you described them:

You also wrote a gratitude letter to Parent .

In one word, you said it made you feel Happy .

One way of paying it forward is having a prosocial, beyond-the-self purpose. Here’s how you responded to items assessing that.

… and so quickly we arrived at the end of the semester.

Here’s how your mood varied over these weeks.

Do you notice any patterns? Is there anything that correlates with your mood?

Here you can scroll through all the quotes you wrote to summarize each class.

Grit is about the long-term, not the short
You can't skip the romance phase of interest before moving to the getting serious stage
You can get a nugget of wisdom from Careers A, B, and C to find your true passion
High-level goals help you complete low-level ones
If-then statements are crucial to proper action on goals
Deliberate practice creates achievement, not talent
Ask for advice over feedback
Almost all things can be mapped back to the process response model
Willpower isn't enough for habit change
For success in life, you need a role model/mentor
To live in a self-transcendent way leads to the highest amount of happiness

In the final class, we looked back to everything we’ve learned together and to how our passion and perseverance evolved during this class.

Here are the comments from your Grit Lab Teammates:

Leigha Jackson
Kevin, I very much enjoyed getting to know you this semester! We sat next to each other everyday of Grit Lab, and for that reason, we especially got to know eachother through the many pair and shares. You were such a great energy to have around for the group- you were always kind and encouraging to everyone and I always looked forward to hearing your week recap at our weekly team meetings. I think your academic and professional pursuits are so incredibly interesting and I can tell you are going to be very successful in all that you do. Best of luck Kevin!! As for your Discovery project, I loved that you decided to do a sampling project as I think it takes a lot of courage to be able to try many different new projects. I particularly thought the Shuffling part was awesome, as I know how much goes into being skilled at a feat like that. Your project inspired me to more so step out of my comfort zone.
Phoebe Hoffman
Kevin, throughout this semester you have been a great leader and a joy to talk to. Your presence has been really valuable and you consistently add great perspective and have elevated our conversations. In particular, your ability to list attentively is great! You have helped create an extremely inviting atmosphere where everyone feels safe to share their thoughts and engage freely. I really enjoyed your presentation. It was great to hear about the different activities that you learned. You seemed excited to share that you learned new skills and enjoyed the process of sampling. I would love to read your short stories one day!
Amalya Knapp
Kevin has been an invaluable presence in our group. As a senior navigating a double major in computer science and psychology, Kevin stands as a wellspring of valuable insights to share advice with me (an underclassman). Throughout our weekly group check-ins, Kevin consistently imparts thoughtful pieces of advice, blending wisdom with empathy. His counsel, such as the importance of not becoming overly absorbed in work and prioritizing time with communities and friends, has played a crucial role in maintaining a balanced perspective. Kevin's guidance serves as a steady reminder to focus on what truly matters, emphasizing the significance of nurturing relationships with others. His ability to distill complex experiences into concise and actionable advice reflects a depth of understanding that has proven instrumental in shaping my personal and academic journey. In addition to his mentorship, Kevin played a pivotal role in keeping our group discussions on track. As the one who ensured we covered all required topics and perspectives, Kevin's organizational skills and commitment to thoroughness have been instrumental in the success of our collaborative efforts. Kevin’s ability to balance guidance and structure is a testament to his leadership qualities, and I appreciate the sense of direction that he brings to our team. Learning about Kevin's Discovery project, centered around his sampling of various hobbies, was genuinely refreshing. It was inspiring to witness a senior actively exploring new skills and passions, emphasizing that it's never too late to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Kevin's project serves as a testament to his open-mindedness, resilience, and willingness to embrace new experiences. I have no doubt that these qualities, coupled with his kindness, will propel him far in life. It's been a privilege to have Kevin as a teammate, and the lessons I've learned from him, both in terms of academics and personal development, will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on my college experience.

We hope you have emerged from Grit Lab a little grittier than you started.

Do you want to see how your grit rubric changed?

Drumroll please…

Don’t worry if the rubric doesn’t yet reflect growth. It is only a coarse measure that cannot replace your own self-reflection.

In any case, grit is not built in a day…

…remember that progress is never smooth…

…so stay passionate and persevering in the lifelong quest of choosing easy, working smart, and paying it forward.

With grit and gratitude,

Angela and the Grit Lab team.